TWO Statement On Family Research Council Shooting

This morning a security guard at the Family Research Council was shot in the arm by a gunman at the organization’s Washington, DC headquarters. According to FOX News, sources said the shooter expressed disagreement with the organization’s policies. The suspect “made statements regarding their policies, and then opened fire with a gun striking a security guard.”

“This is an awful tragedy and our thoughts and hearts go out to the victim, his family, and his colleagues at the Family Research Council,” said Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “In America we settle political differences through robust debate in the public square, not with violence. If the shooting is found to be politically motivated, it is a detestable act of cruelty and cowardice and the perpetrator should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. We stand squarely with the Family Research Council today and offer them our full support and prayers.”

The guard was conscious and was being treated. The gunman was apprehended and was being questioned by the FBI, sources said. Sources said he is in his twenties and may have been posing as an intern. Authorities were treating the attack as a case of domestic terrorism.

About the Author

Wayne Besen is the Founding Executive Director of Truth Wins Out and author of “Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth” (Haworth, 2003). In 2010, Besen was awarded the “Visionary Award” at the Out Music Awards for organizing the American Prayer Hour, an event which shined a spotlight on the role American evangelicals played in the introduction of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

12 Comments

Last week in DC, I met with an editor I write occasional articles for. I have the distinct privilege of being one of the few Christians he respects. After 32 years of reporting, and most of it in DC, he has seen the growing encroachment of conservative “Christian” groups that actively work against glbt civil rights.
He told me just last week over coffee that it would only be a matter of time that someone would walk into one of these groups offices and shot. Well, it happened. This morning, a man entered the lobby of Family Research Council, posing as an intern and questioned policy. And then shot a guard.
I was in that lobby doing the same thing in February. There is NO way to get “behind the curtain” and into their offices. When I went back a second time, they already had me on a “no, not HER” list and turned me away quickly.
You can only push people so far in oppression before they react. Shooting is NOT a way to dialogue. FRC will use this to beg and plead for more money to fight the “radical homosexual agenda”.
Thankfully the guard was only wounded, but the deeper wounding has been happening for over twenty years on the part of FRC.

Regardless of whether it is politically motivated it is a detestable and cowardly crime which should be fully prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Meanwhile, the shooter’s alleged statement might be construed that the FRC doesn’t go far enough. Or it might be another hetero out to get his wife or ex-girl — until more facts are known, there’s no way to know that this is related to the gay aspect of the FRC, or some other aspect — they are against divorce and abortion too — perhaps that was the man’s motive? Who knows? Yet.

aveteranAugust 15, 2012 at 5:17 pm -

Why is it that when a vile hatemonger group is attacked, it’s “domestic terrorism”, but the multitude of violent attacks THEY spawn are brushed off as inconsequential? Violence should never be condoned. We cannot stoop to their tactics as this individual did; civilized behavior must prevail.

AnnieAugust 15, 2012 at 11:49 pm -

This is not okay in any way, shape, or form, and I agree 100% with TWO that the perpetrator should be punished to the fullest extent of the law, and I’m so glad that the guard is in stable condition. There’s no doubt the right wing will milk this tragedy for all it’s worth. I can already hear FOX news and company calling us “extremists,” “terrorists,” and saying that our “vilification of pro-family Americans” caused this to happen. If you ask any random person on the street who Larry King, Tyler Clementi, or even Matthew Shepard are, chances are they won’t know who you’re talking about. Violence against LGBT people is ignored every day thanks to the severe lack of protection under hate crime laws. Where are the right wing politicians nad news commentators condemning the people responsible for those tragedies? They are professional victims through and through, and now that they actually are the victim of a tragedy, I shudder to think what the right-wing news coverage for this will look like.

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Truth Wins Out is a non-profit organization that fights the "ex-gay" myth and antigay religious extremism.

TWO monitors anti-LGBT organizations, documents their lies and exposes wrongdoing. TWO specializes in turning information into action by organizing, advocating and fighting for truth, integrity, and equality for sexual minorities.